Item #24827 "The wine duty, -or- the triumph of Bacchus & Silenus". Etching. J. Gillray.

"The wine duty, -or- the triumph of Bacchus & Silenus". Etching.

London: Henry G. Bohn, Ca. 1850. Black and white satirical etching depicting a drunken William Pitt, as Bacchus, with Henry Dundas as Silenus, being entreated by John Bull, as a country bumpkin, for mercy in the raising of taxes on liquor.

Pitt proclaims, "Twenty Pounds a T-Tun, ad-additional Duty i-i-if you d-d-don't like it at that, why t-t-t-then Dad & I will keep it all for o-o-our own Drinking, so here g-g-goes old Bu-Bu-Bull & Mouth!!! -

To which John Bull responds, "Pray Mr Bacchus have a bit of consideration for old John; - you know as how I've emptied my Purse already for you - & its waundedly hard to raise the price of a drop of Comfort, now that one's got no Money left for to pay for it!!!". (See BM Satires 8798 for the 1796 edition).

Printed on the verso is another etching, 'The Generae of Patriotism, or, the Bloomsbury Farmer, planting Bedfordshire Wheat'. In this image, Charles Fox, the Whig leader looks down approvingly on his fellow Whigs (James Maitland, Richard Sheridan and Francis Russell, Duke of Bedford) as they scatter coins and till the fields in order to produce a new crop of revolutionaries (French bonnets rouges). Storm clouds are seen at the left, with lightning destroying the new crop as soon as it sprouts. (See BM Satires 8783 for the 1796 edition).

11 x 16 1/2". Wide margins, a strong impression, plate mark visible. Very good condition. Item #24827

Price: $145.00

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